BitPass

Online payment system for digital content

Description

Bitpass was a company that gave people a platform to make micropayments online. These payments were ranging from one cent to a dollar. BitPass developed an online payment system for digital content and services like the downloadable music and PDFs. Mperia, an online music store founded in 2003, was one of its greatest projects for unsigned artists. BitPass customers included giants such as Disney and Microsoft.

Stats

Category

Finances

Country

United States

Started

In 2002

Closed

By 2007

Number of Founders

One

Name of Founders

Kurt Huang

Number of Employees

Between 51 And 100

Number of Funding Rounds

2

Total Funding Amount

$13.3M

Number of Investors

6

Precise Cause of Failure

Competition

Business Outcome

Shut Down

Cause of Failure

The main reason for closure
as stated in their email was competition. The newly rolled Google Checkout
payment system, which was offered for free, made BitPass business superfluous.
Bitpass CEO originally hoped to get their micropayment features integrated into
Google checkout but that never happened. After raising about $12 million and
acquiring one of its competitors Bitpass journey came to an end in 2007.

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Bitpass was a company that gave people a platform to make micropayments online. These payments were ranging from one cent to a dollar. BitPass developed an online payment system for digital content and services like the downloadable music and PDFs. Mperia, an online music store founded in 2003, was one of its greatest projects for unsigned artists. BitPass customers included giants such as Disney and Microsoft.

Cause of Failure

The main reason for closure
as stated in their email was competition. The newly rolled Google Checkout
payment system, which was offered for free, made BitPass business superfluous.
Bitpass CEO originally hoped to get their micropayment features integrated into
Google checkout but that never happened. After raising about $12 million and
acquiring one of its competitors Bitpass journey came to an end in 2007.